


when you light a flame

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, I'll update the tags as I go, M/M, also kinda technically university or coffee shop au, excuse mistakes pls i'll go over them again soon, soulmate au for hwitae because they're actual soulmates irl!!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-15 19:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9251942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: His soulmate, Taeyang concluded, was a bit of a brat. He was shy and blushed way too easily, but a brat nonetheless for making him go through all the trouble of finally meeting him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from Parachute's Without You, a song pretty much made for any soulmate au.

_I’m bored._

 

The words first appeared on Taeyang’s skin in the middle of class.

 

Normally, the first words you got from your soulmate was a big thing. Mainly because the words that appeared on your skin meant you actually _have_ a soulmate; someone you’re destined to be partnered with for the rest of your life. Someone who was made to love you, no matter what, whose heart is matched with yours for all eternity. True love. Destiny. 

 

Soulmates are able to contact each other by writing on their skin. Whatever is written on your own skin will appear in the same spot on your soulmate’s skin, which usually meant that finding your soulmate was pretty much _made_ to be easy. Considering there aren’t any language barriers then with a few quick scribbles, you can know everything about your soulmate and more, arrange to meet up, live happily ever after, all that jazz.

 

At least, that was usually the case.

 

Taeyang stared at the back of his hand with mixed feelings. Was he happy? Well, he can’t say he wasn’t at least a little bit overjoyed. He had a soulmate, which was great, of course. He was definitely happy about that. The only thing that was getting in the way with his happiness was how he had tried contacting his soulmate _several times_ over the past few _years_ and never got a single reply, _ever._

 

He remembered the first thing he wrote out, too: _Hi! I’m your soulmate Yoo Taeyang._

 

He had expected a reply right away, but instead got none. Still, Taeyang dutifully wrote out good morning and good night greetings on his hand everyday since he was 16, waiting for the moment his soulmate would finally reply. He knew he had one. It wasn’t like he was writing to no one in particular— he had to have one, he felt it deep inside of him, and there’s no way he was giving up. If anything, right now a huge part of him wanted to ignore the writing on his hand for a few years to see how his soulmate would like it.

 

A few seconds later, he was already uncapping his pen and writing on another area of his hand.

 

_You made me wait three years. I should be mad at you._

 

Taeyang wondered if maybe that was a bit too harsh to say. It was followed by a feeling of worry, that maybe his soulmate would end up not replying all over again. He couldn’t have possibly messed it up before it even started, right?

 

His negative thoughts disappeared when he felt a tingling sensation on his hand, watching in awe as the black marks began to form. 

 

_You should be, but here you are replying to me anyway._

 

Taeyang fought back a laugh as he had to agree, eagerly writing back now that they were finally conversing. 

 

_Okay, good point. Will you introduce yourself, then?_

 

He stared at his hand expectantly— he was going to find out his soulmate’s _name._ Everything else would follow smoothly after that. He’d figure out his soulmate’s gender, too, probably. Boy or girl, did it really matter if it was your fated love? Surely by then they could go on dates, hold hands, do all the cute couple stuff. They would do as soulmates do. Well, considering they do meet up, Korea was a big place after all and—

 

Taeyang blinked as the two letters, bold and black, appeared.

 

_No._

 

____________________________________________________________

 

“You said no?!” Chani pretty much shouted from his spot on the floor of Hwiyoung's room, throwing a random pillow over at his best friend. 

 

Hwiyoung dodged it easily; usually he would have thrown it back, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood to argue. He had finally, after years of beating around the bush and straight up ignoring his soulmate, decided to initiate contact. For the most part, he was just really glad his soulmate didn’t choose to ignore him as well. His soulmate was a good person. Either that or it's the unavoidable feelings of utter love and adoration, but either way. 

 

His soulmate was someone named Yoo Taeyang. 

 

Hwiyoung blushed at the mere thought of his name, which didn't go unnoticed by Chani. 

 

The latter rolled his eyes, "Look at you, utterly lovesick. I can't believe you said no. You have got to be the worst soulmate out there, I swear, if this Taeyang guy doesn't drop you I'll be so surprised—“

 

"You're not helping," Hwiyoung groaned, grabbing the pillow from earlier and burying his face into it.

 

Sure he ignored his soulmate for years, but Hwiyoung had a good reason for doing so. He was _shy_ , that was a good enough reason, right? Every time any string of words would appear on his hand or arm, Hwiyoung would turn into an outright tomato. He couldn't even muster the courage to pick up a pen and write, which was silly; he's heard Chani tell him that plenty of times already. Just now, Hwiyoung managed to add another offence to his growing list: refusing to give out his name.

 

"He told you his name three years ago," Chani pointed out. " _Three_ whole years ago." 

 

"I know," came the muffled reply. 

 

"Look," Chani began. "Rather than moping there like a big baby, how about picking that pen up and writing something like oh, sorry, that was a joke, my name is Kim Hwiyoung and I'm a tomato." 

 

Hwiyoung's head emerged from the pillow, still as red as it was moments ago, "no thanks." 

 

"You mean you're gonna leave this guy waiting again?"

 

Hwiyoung paused as if to consider, before furiously nodding.

 

"You are an evil, evil soulmate, Hwiyoung. I hope he drops you faster than a hot pan.”

 

That time, Hwiyoung threw the pillow back. 

 

____________________________________________________________

 

It’s been four days since his soulmate first contacted him, and Taeyang was perplexed. Confused. Befuddled. He sat in between his two friends, Rowoon and Zuho, who looked just about as bored and 100% done with Taeyang’s antics as they sipped their respective drinks. The people who entered the coffee shop began to trickle in number. They’ve all been there for a few hours. Every now and then, the two wondered about just leaving Taeyang in there. Surely there were better ways to spend a weekend.

 

“Am I doing anything wrong?”

 

“Does my soulmate hate me?”

 

“Was I too forward?”

 

“Did I ask the wrong thi—“

 

Zuho butted in before he could even finish, “I swear if you don’t stop asking the same questions _over and over_ again I’m going to steal _that_ waiter’s pen and write on your arm, just to get you to shut up.”

 

Taeyang froze, staring at the empty patch of skin, “you wouldn’t. They’d hate me even more— both the barista and my soulmate!”

 

“Try me, Yoo Taeyang.”

 

“Zuho,” Rowoon said as calmly as possible, sensing that his soulmate was very much serious about his claim to steal a waiter’s pen. It wasn’t below him at all. Meanwhile, Taeyang was on the brink of chewing his drink’s cup with how stressed he was; Rowoon didn’t want to deal with _that_ either. “Cut Taeyang some slack, he’s been looking forward to contacting his soulmate for years now.”

 

Taeyang nodded, “yeah, unlike you two.”

 

“Well, it’s not our fault we made sure to reply to each other,” Zuho quipped, earning yet another sad sigh from Taeyang. Rowoon was about to tell him off, but Taeyang spoke before he could.

 

“You’re right,” the grey haired boy admitted. “I need to do something.” 

 

“Finally.”

 

“But not today.”

 

“You’re kidding, right?”

 

Taeyang shook his head, plastering a bright smile on his face for the first time in days, “I’ll just work on contacting him some more, but I’m gonna need a game plan of sorts. Gotta make sure he’d want to talk to me, too.”

 

Rowoon smiled back, “good luck.”

 

“You’ll need it,” Zuho muttered under his breath. 

 

It was either ignored or unheard by Taeyang, who was back to being lost in thought. The first step was obviously to write something again, but what? He’s still been greeting his soulmate every morning and night to no avail, but that wasn’t new so it wasn’t that stressful. Should he write during other times of the day? Is that where it starts? Will he get more responses if he bugs his soulmate?

 

Rowoon shook his head at the scene, calling over a cafe waiter to refill his cup of water. 

 

“Uhm,” the waiter spoke once he arrived with a pitcher and began filling their cups. “The cafe is closing in an hour, just thought I’d let you guys know, since you’ve been here since this afternoon.”

 

Taeyang glanced up briefly to say thank you, but the words got stuck in his throat as the waiter’s face came into view. He has never seen a brighter sight in his life, and Taeyang has stared at hisown reflection plenty of times, so he knows what he’s saying. For a split second, he completely forgot about the task at hand about making a plan regarding his soulmate.

 

The boy appeared younger than Taeyang was, but definitely taller, with a head of platinum blond hair that suited him very much. He looked calm, cool, and collected too; barely smiling and was instead focused on pouring water into the cups. Taeyang inched forward in his seat a little to take a glimpse of his name tag and find out his name, but it was annoyingly covered by Rowoon’s head. Maybe if he stood up—

 

His thoughts were interrupted by Zuho thanking the waiter and saying something about how they’ll be leaving soon.  
  
“Right, Taeyang?” Zuho asked pointedly, turning to his friend with a look that said he had better agree.

 

“Y-yeah, of course,” Taeyang replied, eyes still locked on the waiter. The latter, for some reason, suddenly had a bit of a panicked look on his face as his eyes met Taeyang’s. A flush rose up to his cheeks, and before Taeyang could wonder about it further, the other boy promptly walked away from the table. 

 

Well, that was odd. Taeyang shook the scene out of his head— he had a soulmate, for crying out loud, and his soulmate finally contacted him! This was no time to get crushes on cute waiters. First things first, he had to progress further with his soulmate. Right. Cute and blond cafe waiters had nothing to do with that.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

Hwiyoung, for lack of a better description, wanted to melt into a puddle. 

 

On the other hand, Chani was close to being the one to both melt him and also throw the melted content down the drain. 

 

“Let me get this straight,” Chani said while Hwiyoung continued to pace the floor. The two were closing up at the cafe, which meant they were the only ones around. The moment the last group of people left, Hwiyoung had immediately started on a speech of panic that took Chani a while to understand. “This is about those three guys who’d been here since earlier afternoon. One of them was named Taeyang, and—“

 

“And I swore I felt a spark,” Hwiyoung said quietly, burying his already pink face in his hands. 

 

Chani rolled his eyes despite not being seen, “right. So you’re saying this Taeyang guy might be Yoo Taeyang, your soulmate. First of all, Hwi, there are literally thousands of people named Taeyang in Korea.”

 

“I know that,” Hwiyoung replied, lifting his head up again. “You know I’ve met a few, but none of them gave me the same feeling as this one did. Also none of them had Yoo as their surname, but whatever.”

 

“You don’t even know if _this one_ is a Yoo Taeyang.”

 

Hwiyoung pouted, “you have a point.”

 

“Then why not ask?” Chani pointed out, grabbing a pen from the counter top and handing it to Hwiyoung. “Easiest thing in the world, having this soulmate link. Time to finally use it, don’t you think?”

 

Hwiyoung stared at the pen, biting his lip nervously in thought. Would it be weird? What if he got the wrong Taeyang, what would his actual soulmate think? Well, no, this should be fine right? He was asking so he could make sure he wasn’t going to randomly fall for the wrong Taeyang. That was a good thing. It had nothing to do with finding the grey haired customer from earlier painfully handsome, with beautiful eyes, a nice voice—

 

“That’s it, give me your arm,” Chani said, already grabbing Hwiyoung’s arm before the blond boy could do anything about it. 

 

“Hey, wait!”

 

Chani refused to listen, already writing on the inside of his wrist, “do you… want… to meet up…” 

 

Hwiyoung blushed furiously, “what are you doing? I can’t meet up with him! What if he was the guy from earlier, did you see how good looking he was? I can’t handle talking to handsome people, Chani!” 

 

Chani just shrugged and let go of his wrist. Hwiyoung stared at his wrist in a mix of mostly horror and slight anticipation, actually thinking of erasing it before his soulmate could even see it. Would his soulmate even _want_ to meet up with him after what he did? Well, he knew the answer was yes, seeing how Yoo Taeyang was still greeting him good morning and good night, but he still worried. 

 

Just a few seconds later, clearly hastily written reply appeared.

 

_Yes. Yes, of course. When? Where? Ah, how are you? You didn’t reply last time so I thought you wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore._

 

“He sure talks a lot,” Chani commented, staring at the growing black words in surprise. “It’ll be a pain to wash that off.”

 

“Worth it,” Hwiyoung said, smiling despite his original worry. 

 

Chani snorted, “cheesy. Tell him your name first.”

 

_It’s my fault. My name is Kim Hwiyoung._

 

Hwiyoung’s heart pounded loudly in his chest, but he soon realized it was more out of excitement than worry. He didn’t mean to have the image of the grey haired customer from earlier in his head as he continued to converse with his soulmate, but he also couldn’t deny that that was what pushed him to do this in the first place. Surely, if ever that was the wrong Taeyang after all, his soulmate would be even better. Right? Right. The earlier blush on his face deepened when he read the reply.

 

_Pretty name._

 

“That’s it. I can’t take this. I’m out,” Chani faked wanting to vomit as he said so. “Have your date here so I can be updated on what happens, but I’m not sticking around for this blatant flirting.”

 

Hwiyoung was too happy to care.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

Taeyang went from wondering what he did wrong to wondering what he did _right._ His relationship with his soulmate— with _Hwiyoung_ , he finally found out— went from basically non-existent to having their first date within a few days. They had actually planned this out. Both of them, talking, conversing (at least through writing) and doing things _together._ For the first time in his life, Taeyang’s arm was filled with handwriting apart from his own. He got a good night from Hwiyoung too, if that wasn’t the Best. Thing. Ever. 

 

He had learned that Hwiyoung was actually younger than him by a full two years. They lived in the same city but studied in different schools, although the schools were also still pretty close by. They hadn’t exchanged phone numbers yet because, well, Taeyang wanted to do that in person. Also they figured the soulmate link was like a permanent messenger service already, anyway. The scheduled day was for weekend after Hwiyoung finally began contacting him.

 

Ironically, it was in the cafe with the cute waiter, but of course Taeyang wasn’t mentioning that. 

 

He had arrived a whole two hours before the date was supposed to begin, waiting patiently for Hwiyoung to finish whatever part-time job he had. The latter didn’t specify where he worked, but that was fine, Taeyang didn’t mind not knowing. He found a good spot near the corner of the cafe for some privacy, and decided to order something to drink while he waited.

 

When he looked around for a waiter, his eyes met those of a tall, blond boy.

 

_The_ tall, blond boy.

 

The same waited from last night looked at him in shock as well, but still hurried over to where Taeyang was seated. 

 

“H-h-hello, what would be your o-order?” He stuttered out, eyes glued on the notepad in his hand. Taeyang watched, both amused and curious at how the waiter was acting. Amused because it was pretty cute, but overall curious because well, why? His eyes finally flitted to the name tag he wasn’t able to see last week.

 

_Kim Hwiyoung._

 

“No way,” Taeyang blurted out, staring back and forth from the name tag to Hwiyoung’s face. 

Hwiyoung, all blond and cute and _perfect,_ merely blushed further. 

 

“What d-do you mean by that?” 

 

“May I borrow your pen?” Taeyang asked sweetly in response. He had to prove it somehow. Hwiyoung’s eyes widened but that didn’t stop him from handing his pen over without a word. Taeyang accepted it with a quick word of thanks, uncapping it.

 

Taeyang looked up at the waiter, who was still looking down at him with a blushing pink face. Without taking his eyes off of Hwiyoung, Taeyang began to draw a tiny heart on the side of his own face— a dumb idea, but it did the trick. A similar heart soon appeared on Hwiyoung’s face, as the latter released a small “oh” at the sensation he felt.

 

The older boy took this as a chance to stand up, staring at Hwiyoung with a ridiculously bright smile because he was _beyond_ happy. 

 

“This may be crazy, but I’m pretty sure you’re my soulmate.”

 

“I— uhm— I mean— yeah— well—“ Hwiyoung closed his mouth, not trusting himself to speak. Taeyang watched the young boy fondly, positive his smile wasn’t disappearing any time soon. FInally. After years, all it took were a few days to finally meet his soulmate. It also helped that his soulmate was, once again, the literally definition of perfect and cute and adorable underneath his original impression of a cold city boy. 

 

Taeyang chuckled, “three years and you still don’t have anything to say to me?”

 

“Uhm,” Hwiyoung started. “I really am sorry.”

 

“At least you’ve got this date to make it up to me, right?” Taeyang teased, enjoying the blush that just wouldn’t go away. Hwiyoung nodded frantically, earning another chuckle for the older boy. “I can’t wait till you finish your shift then.”

 

“I can,” another voice said, and a shorter boy with black hair drifted into view. “Flirt later, Hwi, work now.” Turning to Taeyang, he continued, “sorry to steal your soulmate, Sir, but he _is_ still on shift.”

 

Hwiyoung nodded again, “r-right.”

 

“Took him long enough to contact you, too.”

 

“Chani!” 

 

Taeyang grinned, “go on, I understand. You definiteIy owe me for that though— but I can wait for our date to begin.”

 

When Hwiyoung nodded shyly and left, he picked up the pen from earlier and wrote on his hand. 

 

_And also the beginning of the rest of our lives together._

**Author's Note:**

> I'm lowkey Chani throughout this whole fic.
> 
> Finally complete!!! Sorry it took a while, but this was really fun to write. It's also a universe I can see writing again for other SF9 pairs or for new Hwitae fics now and then.
> 
> If you like my work and would like to support me, please consider buying me coffee! https://ko-fi.com/stilljunhui


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